To the Bone
by Sophia Hawkins
Summary: Oneshot. The members of Firehouse 51 have had a lot of things unexpectedly go wrong on the job before, but none of them could've anticipated what would happen to one of their own on the next call.


To the Bone

The companies from 51 rolled up on the scene of their latest call, a brownstone that had smoke pouring out of the second story windows. Lined up along the street were several police squad cars.

"What's going on?" Boden demanded to know as he slammed the door on the battalion van.

"These people've been under surveillance for weeks, suspected drug smugglers, we just got a judge to sign a search warrant when we got a call the place was burning," a plainclothes cop explained, "we canvassed the immediate neighbors, nobody's seen anybody come out."

"How many people are we talking about?" Kelly asked.

"No way of knowing, officially there's only two names on the lease."

"If we find anyone we'll bring them out," Boden said.

Everybody got their gear on, grabbed the tools they anticipated most likely needing and headed in.

"Fire department! Call out!"

It was zero visibility as soon as they got in. The smoke was thick, from above their heads they could hear the fire raging, nobody knew what had happened but everywhere they moved they walked into something, the whole house was like a damn maze. Everybody spread out to assess the situation and look for anybody in there.

"Fire department! Call out!" Kelly guessed that he was in the kitchen but he honestly couldn't tell. He could hear the faint sound of another person nearby, he found a door, and pressed his gloved hands against it, it wasn't hot. He opened it, and in the next room the smoke wasn't as bad yet, and he found two men sprawled on the floor, one barely conscious, the other one either unconscious or already dead.

"Chief, I got two people down in here, the northeast corner just past the kitchen!" Kelly took off his glove long enough to check the pulse of the second man, it was very faint, but it was there.

"Copy that..." there was a pause on the radio before Boden came back on, "Severide, two of the police are going to come in and assist with removing them."

"Seriously, Chief?" Kelly rolled his eyes at the thought of the cops butting their way into CFD's business.

"There could be more people in the house, we don't need any firefighters ambushed during a rescue," Boden replied, though Kelly half suspected the chief was more saying that for the cops' benefit, just playing nice until everybody was out of the house, _then_ let them have it for interfering with the call.

Herrmann and Cruz found their way to the kitchen and assisted Kelly with carrying the two men towards the exit.

"Rest of the place is cleared," Herrmann said.

"Everybody else out?" Kelly asked.

"All but Casey."

"Where's he?" Kelly asked.

"Last we heard he was still on the second floor, it's even more of an obstacle course up there than it is down here," Cruz answered as they neared the door.

At that time two of the plainclothes cops entered also wearing SCBAs, and in Severide's opinion, their appearance was just as ridiculous as the whole idea of them coming into a house fire in the first place.

"They're unconscious, what do you think they're gonna do?" Kelly wanted to know.

Before the cops could answer, Casey's voice came over the radio, "I think there's someone in a closet up here, hang on."

Kelly reached his radio and replied, "Copy that."

Between the five men they got the two victims out where the the paramedics were waiting with two gurneys to load them up and rush them to Med. Severide went back in to await Casey's report and the cops went back in with him, anticipating more people and possible trouble, and Kelly felt his blood chill in his veins as they all heard Casey's loud, terrified screams. So loud in fact, it only occurred to Kelly after a few seconds, that it wasn't even coming over the radio, they were hearing it coming clear from upstairs.

"Casey!"

Severide wasn't sure what it was that had held him back but by the time he started running up the stairs the two policemen were already ahead of him, it seemed to Kelly he should've already been at the top before they even started. The smoke was even worse on the second floor than it had been downstairs, all there was to go by was the sound of Casey's blood curdling screams echoing down the hall.

"Casey!"

Over the roar of the flames and the sounds of the infrastructure gradually caving in from the fire, Kelly was able to pick up on another noise though he couldn't place it, but whatever it was, the closer he got to the sound of Casey's screams, it also got louder.

Boden's voice came over the radio, "Severide, what's going on?"

Kelly heard the battalion chief's voice but didn't respond, his brain couldn't even think of one as he blindly made his way through the rooms looking for the Truck lieutenant. He was only faintly aware of the two cops getting ahead of him, clearing anticipating something his own mind couldn't even fathom, as he got closer to the end of the hall the noises got louder and he would almost swear he knew what they were, but he still couldn't place them.

"Casey!"

The next thing Kelly heard were gunshots, and his heart sank.

"Casey!"

Pushing himself to move faster than he had been, Kelly ran to the room at the end of the hall. Somehow here the smoke wasn't as bad and he could see into the room, and his jaw dropped.

The only sounds filling the room now were Casey's pained screams as he lay on the floor, his mask shattered, his face covered in blood and his whole body convulsing, and the dying whimpers of two large dogs sprawled on either side of him. The two policemen stood just inside the room, still brandishing their guns.

"Oh my God!" Kelly couldn't think of anything else to say.

He wasn't consciously aware of crossing to the other side of the room but the next thing he knew he was crouching down besides Casey, trying to figure out how bad the damage was. There was so much blood that his facial features were almost entirely blocked out, the blonde lieutenant just writhed around on the floor screaming in agony, he never even seemed to stop long enough to breathe.

Kelly absently reached for his radio and feeling as if he was an outsider looking in at all this, almost an out of body experience at how unreal everything felt, told Boden, "We need help up here, Casey's been attacked, he's bleeding out!" He reached over and grabbed Casey's shoulders and tried to restrain him, "Casey, calm down, help's on the way, we're gonna get you out of here."

His words fell on deaf ears, Casey didn't seem to be aware of anyone or anything and just thrashed around, continually screaming in excruciating pain and terror.

* * *

Of all things to be aware of, Casey was aware of the movement of his chest and stomach as he breathed. That was when he opened his eyes, and looked around and recognized his surroundings as being one of the rooms at Chicago Med. He tried turning his head but the left side of his face felt strange somehow, he couldn't really describe it except the skin felt pinched tight. He turned over on his side and saw Kelly sitting in a chair next to the bed, and he looked on the verge of falling asleep himself, then suddenly he jumped to his feet.

"Oh good, you're awake," he said, sounding tremendously relieved.

"What happened, Kelly?" Casey asked, trying to remember how he'd gotten there. "What's going on?"

"Just take it easy, Matt," Kelly said as he sat back down, trying to sound very calm, "everything's going to be alright."

"Then why am I in the hospital?" Casey asked. "What happened?"

"You don't remember?" Kelly almost seemed hopeful.

"Remember what? _What_ happened?" Matt wanted to know.

"You were attacked on the last call we answered," Severide answered simply. "Do you remember?"

Casey tried to think, but nothing was coming to him. Then his eyes widened.

"The dogs...they broke through the paneling in the closet door...and they knocked me down and...I thought they were going to kill me."

Severide's stomach turned at the thought of how the two canines very nearly had, and probably would've if they hadn't been shot by the police. That, he'd discovered after Casey was rushed to the hospital, was the only thing that had stopped them, and as big as the dogs were, it had taken more than one shot a piece to stop them. Kelly knew no good would come of telling Casey how once they got him out of there, they'd discovered the bite marks that went clear through his turnout coat. He was already no doubt going to have enough trauma as it was from all of this.

"It looked pretty bad but you just got some stitches," Kelly told him.

Casey only then seemed to notice the ones on his right arm. He didn't put it together at the time that that was the explanation behind his face feeling so weird.

"The docs said they can come out in about a week or so," Severide noticed Casey looking a shade paler than before. "Are you okay?'

"I don't feel so good," Matt answered.

"That's probably from the rabies shot they gave you, Will said there could be reactions, he also said you'll have to come back for two more shots over the next couple weeks," Kelly told him. "They also gave you a tetanus shot...and they've got you on antibiotics right now to cover all bases."

"Rabies?" Casey slowly asked, his mind not fully comprehending what he was being told.

"Nobody could find any information about the dogs those people had," Kelly said. "The neighbors didn't even know they _had_ dogs."

Casey's mind was a blur as he tried to remember, "What were they?" They were big and vicious and that was all he knew before they were trying to bite his face off.

"They're called canary dogs. Some kind of mastiff," Kelly explained. "We pulled them out of the fire...figure they had to be 130 pounds each. Apparently these people were very paranoid because they were sitting on a lot of money _and_ drugs, and wanted to make sure nobody came around to take it from them."

Casey closed his eyes, raised his left hand to his face, and felt more stitches, along his cheek and over his eye. "Why can't I remember?"

"You were pretty hysterical when we found you," Kelly said. He declined adding 'not without good reason', he figured Casey could put that much together himself. "The paramedics had to sedate you just to examine you."

Kelly remembered the cops explaining to him once all the commotion had died down, that even one dog that size prone to violence could easily tear a whole human body apart. He'd followed the ambulance to the hospital and he hadn't left Casey's side since, after what Matt endured, the last thing he needed was to wake up alone with no answers for what had happened.

Something must've come back to Casey because he squeezed his eyes shut and subconsciously curled into a fetal ball as his body started wracking with sobs that tore out of his chest from nowhere.

Kelly reached over and calmly stroked a hand over the top of Casey's head and assured him, "It's alright, Matt, it's over now, you're gonna be fine."

"I...I remembered what they always say incase a dog attacks...I tried to punch them in the face...tried to kick them in the ribs...I couldn't...they were on top of me and I couldn't get away from them."

Casey had felt their teeth piercing through his turnout coat and digging into his flesh, and he remembered the sheer horror when he heard the plastic of his mask crack, and felt the hot air on his face, knowing he had just lost the only barrier of protection between his face and those dogs. And he remembered the pain of them biting his face, at the time it felt like the pain coursed through his whole head, he was sure he was going to die.

"Calm down, Casey," Kelly tried to soothe his friend, "don't cry, you can't get your stitches wet."

In spite of the situation, that got a small laugh out of Casey amidst his breakdown.

* * *

Casey wouldn't eat his dinner that night and he just sat up in his hospital bed with a grim look on his face.

"What's the matter?" Kelly asked, "Not feeling good?"

"I can't sleep," Matt responded simply. "You don't have to stick around, Kelly, you could go home."

"I'm staying right here," Kelly replied. "Will said they'd be releasing you in the morning if everything looks good, I'll wait right here until then."

Casey sighed and rolled his eyes.

"You want to watch TV?" Kelly asked.

"Sure," Casey sighed in defeat.

"Good, move over," Kelly got up from the chair and parked himself on the other side of the hospital bed and found the remote for the TV. "Let's see what's on."

Flipping through the channels to one he was familiar with, Kelly settled on a movie channel that as soon as the picture came on, they saw the film currently playing was "Cujo".

"No!" Casey groaned as he pulled the sheet up over his face.

Kelly quickly changed the channel and flipped through a few others before he came to a rerun of 'Roseanne'. Casey lowered the sheet and the two firemen laid on the bed and watched TV for a while before both gradually fell asleep leaning against each other.

* * *

Casey sighed to himself as he opened his eyes and saw it was still dark out. His first shift back after his attack, and he couldn't sleep. He left his quarters, tiptoed past the bunk room, and headed to the common room and parked himself on the couch and turned on the TV but kept the volume low.

The sound of nails clacking on the floor broke the otherwise silence and after a couple seconds, Pouch announced her arrival by jumping up on the cushion beside Casey and turned around twice before laying in a heap.

"Go away!" he told the dog.

The dog's eyes widened and a small whimper escaped her as she promptly jumped down and left the room. For a minute Casey thought he'd won that one, then realized that wasn't the case when Pouch returned carrying a tennis ball in her mouth. She got out a stifled groan around the ball and reached up with one paw and grabbed his knee to get his attention. In the light put out from the TV screen he could see her eyes looking up at him hopefully.

Casey sighed in defeat and took the ball from her. "Okay." He drew his arm back and tossed the ball into the kitchen, "go get it."

Pouch jumped to her feet and took off after the ball, her nails clicking on the floor, and though Casey couldn't see it, he did _hear_ the by now unmistakable sound of the dog sliding on the floor and skidding right into the wall. That had started one day after the floor had been waxed and since then, when she ran on it, she couldn't get her bearings straight before she slid against the wall. Only then would she get up and try to turn around without slipping again, and double back around. Her nails sounded like hail hitting the pavement as she got turned around and came rushing back with the ball in tow. She dropped the ball beside his feet and rested her chin on his knee, looking up at him with sad eyes and whining pitifully.

"Alright, alright," Casey conceded, "come on."

Wagging her tail, Pouch hopped back onto the couch cushion beside him, pressed her front paws on his thigh and stood up to lick the side of his face. Casey closed one eye and turned his face away from the relentless tongue.

He'd always liked dogs, growing up he'd been bitten a few times but what kid hadn't? But it had never been enough to change the way he felt about dogs. But after nearly being torn apart by two dogs almost his own size, once Casey left the hospital he'd suddenly found himself leery when he passed by someone walking their German shepherd or a neighbor out with their border collie. He suddenly found himself looking at all dogs above a certain size, wondering, waiting, watching to see if they would charge him and try to maul him. Casey always knew if a dog wasn't trained right, if it was abused, it could become violent and they would be a threat to any small children in the area, and all the adults as well. And they had certainly encountered a few vicious dogs on calls before, but _nothing_ like what he'd been put through.

Pouch stopped licking him and instead started nudging him, and for no bigger than she was she was very strong and nudged him hard enough he just about fell off the couch.

"Alright, alright," Casey said with a small laugh, "you win."

As if she understood what he was saying, Pouch pressed her front paws on his leg for leverage and stood up and tilted her head back with a sharp bark.

"Shh! Don't wake the others," he told her.

* * *

Casey felt a bright light against his closed eyelids and slowly made the realization it must be morning. He opened his eyes and saw Kelly standing over him with an amused look on his face.

"What is it?" he groggily asked as he started to sit up. He started to, but his legs wouldn't move. Looking down he saw it was because Pouch had parked herself on his knees and was sprawled across his legs looking up at him, panting with an amused look on her face.

"Get her off of me, _now_," Casey said in a not-amused tone.

Kelly picked up the discarded tennis ball and got Pouch's attention and tossed it into the kitchen. She hopped off Casey's legs with a pronounced 'oomph' from him, and ran after the ball, her nails clacking on the floor until she started sliding again and skidded into the wall.

"You okay?" Kelly asked as Casey sat up.

Casey stretched and groaned and nodded his head, "Yeah, fine."

"You got a doctor's appointment today?" Kelly asked.

"Next rabies shot and I get my stitches out," Casey answered.

"You want me to come with you?" Severide asked.

"That's not necessary, Kelly," Casey said as he stood up.

"I know, you want me to come anyway?" Kelly inquired.

Casey looked at him and for a minute didn't say anything. Then he slowly nodded, "Yeah...I would actually. Thanks."

"No problem," Kelly told him.

Pouch promptly returned with the tennis ball in her mouth and her tail shaking rapidly. Casey took the ball and tossed it to the other side of the common room and both firefighters got a laugh out of watching her chase after it.


End file.
